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Security Checklist for Startups

Updated for April 2026

Ship fast without shipping vulnerabilities.

This free security checklist for startups covers six critical domains: infrastructure hardening, authentication and access control, API security, dependency management, CI/CD pipeline security and cloud configuration. Each item is actionable and prioritized for engineering teams that need to secure their stack without slowing down development velocity.

Most startup breaches exploit basic security gaps that a simple checklist would have caught. We built this checklist from patterns we see repeatedly in penetration tests of early-stage companies. Every item below is something we have seen exploited in production.

The Checklist

Startup Security Checklist

01 - Infrastructure

Infrastructure Hardening

[ ] Enable firewall rules. Deny all inbound by default
[ ] Disable SSH password authentication. Use key-based auth only
[ ] Run services as non-root users
[ ] Enable automatic security updates for OS packages
[ ] Configure TLS 1.3 on all public endpoints
[ ] Set HTTP security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options)
[ ] Remove default credentials from all services
[ ] Enable logging and forward to a central collector

02 - Authentication

Authentication and Access Control

[ ] Enforce MFA on all admin and developer accounts
[ ] Use bcrypt or argon2 for password hashing (never MD5 or SHA1)
[ ] Implement account lockout after failed login attempts
[ ] Set session timeouts and rotate session tokens
[ ] Apply principle of least privilege to all roles
[ ] Audit third-party OAuth scopes quarterly
[ ] Rotate API keys and service account credentials regularly

03 - API

API Security

[ ] Authenticate every API endpoint (no unauthenticated routes)
[ ] Implement rate limiting on all endpoints
[ ] Validate and sanitize all input server-side
[ ] Use parameterized queries for all database operations
[ ] Return generic error messages (no stack traces to clients)
[ ] Enforce authorization checks on every resource access
[ ] Log all API requests with timestamps and source IPs

04 - Dependencies

Dependency Management

[ ] Pin all dependency versions in lock files
[ ] Run npm audit or pip audit in CI pipeline
[ ] Review new dependencies before adding them
[ ] Remove unused dependencies quarterly
[ ] Monitor for CVEs in your dependency tree
[ ] Verify package integrity with checksums
[ ] Use a private registry for internal packages

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05 - Secrets

Secrets Management

[ ] No hardcoded secrets in source code
[ ] .env files excluded from git
[ ] Secret rotation policy in place

06 - Deployment

Deployment Security

[ ] HTTPS forced on all endpoints
[ ] Debug mode disabled in production
[ ] Error messages sanitized

07 - Monitoring

Monitoring and Alerting

[ ] Centralized logging enabled
[ ] Alerting system configured
[ ] Access log retention policy

Bonus

Copy-Paste Templates

.gitignore security template
Security headers (Apache + Nginx)
Pre-commit hook script
Rate limiting middleware

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If your team needs help implementing these security controls or wants a professional assessment of your current posture, we can scope an engagement that fits your stage and budget.

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